Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No.

3, 2017

Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business

Vol. 19, No. 3 (September-December 2017): 289-306

Consumer Attitudes Toward Advertisement and Brand,

Based on the Number of Endorsers and
Product Involvement: An Experimental Study

Tanti Handriana,1* and Wahyu Rahman Wisandiko2

1
Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
2
PT PLN Indonesia, Indonesia

Abstract: Utilizing endorsers in the advertising industry to promote products is currently on the rise, and
employing celebrities as the endorsers is still the marketers’ favorite method. This study aims to analyze the
influence of the number of endorsers and the product’s involvement on the consumers’ attitude towards
the advertisement and the brand. The research’s approach used a 2x2 factorial experimental design. A
total of 120 undergraduate students, who were further divided into 4 groups, were selected as the
respondents of this study. The results show the differences in consumer attitudes towards advertisements
and the brand, based on the number of endorsers and the product’s involvement. The study also reveals
that if there is low involvement with the product, multiple celebrity endorsements will generate a better
consumers’ attitude towards it than a single celebrity endorsement. Multiple celebrity endorsements will
also generate a better attitude among the consumers towards the brand than a single celebrity endorse-
ment will produce.

Keywords: attitude towards advertisement; attitude towards brand; experimental design;

multiple celebrity endorsers; product involvement

JEL classification: M37

* Corresponding author’s e-mail: tanti.handriana@feb.unair.ac.id

289
ISSN: 1141-1128
http://journal.ugm.ac.id/gamaijb

Introduction
Celebrity serves as a source of adver-
tisement or information regarding a brand and
its product’s attributes, with the intention of
creating a pleasant and reassuring impression,
as well as to attract the public’s attention.
Celebrity endorsements area popular market-
ing approach to making a product more no-
ticeable, attractive and compelling to consum-
ers (Wei and Li 2013). Companies hope to
improve consumers’ perceptions and the sales
of their products and brands by affiliating with
famous spokespeople (Amos et al. 2008 in
Erfgen et al. 2016). A celebrity endorser is
any individual who enjoys public recognition
and who uses this recognition on behalf of a
consumer good by appearing with it in an
advertisement (McCracken 1989 in Roy and
Pansari 2014). A study by Friedman, Termini,
and Washington (1976) on the importance of
celebrity endorsements of a particular brand
reveals that the use of celebrity endorsements
in advertisements will generate higher values
of building trust in the advertisement, a bet-
ter attitude towards the brand, and other de-
pendent variables. Therefore, it is not surpris-
ing that companies are willing to spend fan-
tastic amounts of money to pay for a celeb-
rity to endorse their products.
The use of celebrities in advertising has
increased remarkably over recent decades
(Lee and Park 2014). The use of celebrities
for products’ promotions is a popular adver-
tising strategy, which is used more frequently
in Eastern than in Western countries (Kim
and Jeong 2016). On a global scale, roughly
every fifth advert includes a celebrity, mak-
ing endorsements a widely used and popular
strategy among marketers to promote con-
sumer products and services (Halonen-
Knight and Hurmerinta 2010).
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Handriana and Wisandiko
A celebrity endorsement is a popular
marketing approach to making a product more
noticeable, attractive and compelling to con-
sumers (Wei and Wu 2013). Celebrity en-
dorsements and best practices for celebrity
adverts’ utilization have long been debated.
The reasons for the success of one campaign
over another are sensitive subjects. The value
of investigating other potential explanations,
in terms of how consumers’ attitudes and
behaviors are influenced/ altered through use
of celebrities as endorsers, is paramount
(Shuart 2007).
Nowadays, it is even easier to find ad-
vertisements starring more than one celeb-
rity, or using multiple celebrity endorsers (Hsu
and McDonald 2002). Some marketers in In-
donesia have also started using such strate-
gies to promote their products. One of the
examples is a television commercial for Axe
Apollo perfume which utilizes multiple ce-
lebrity endorsers, namely three beautiful art-
ists, Aura Kasih, Vicky Shu and Tyas Mirasih.
Other examples are advertisements by
Yamaha and Honda. In addition to compet-
ing with the quality and technology of their
products, the top two motorcycle manufac-
turers in Indonesia also seem to race each
other to sign up as many celebrities as pos-
sible to endorse their products. Recently,
Yamaha has launched an advertisement cam-
paign starring well-known comedians, Bajaj
and Komeng, along with two Moto GP rac-
ers, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. Mean-
while, Honda has long been endorsed by
Indonesia’stop celebrities, such as Daniel
Mananta, Agnes Monica, and Nidji.
As a matter of fact, the marketers’ strat-
egy to use multiple celebrity endorsers is not
unsubstantiated. Mowen and Brown (1981)
claim that the use of multiple celebrity en-
dorsers has undoubtedly helped marketers to
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017
influence consumers’ perceptions. Hsu and
McDonald (2002) also suggest that using mul-
tiple celebrity endorsers in advertisements is
likely to affect more of the audience. Several
previous studies have also revealed that mul-
tiple celebrity endorsements may have an ef-
fect on consumer attitudes (Rice et al. 2012;
Pughazhendiet al. 2012).
According to Kelley’s attribution theory
(1967), people will determine the causality
of an event based on their behavior or the
behavior of others. Such as the Prospect
Theory that explains that when presented in
different ways, information can encourage an
alteration inpeople’s perspectives, preferences
and actions (Hussein et al. 2014). Hence, if
other people endorse a product, consumers
are more likely to have a similar attitude and
perception to those who promote the prod-
uct. Based on this theory, Mowen and Brown
(1981) then recommended that by utilizing
multiple celebrity endorsers, marketers can
effectively apply the concept of the Social
Consensus Theory, since this technique is
regarded as a good marketing strategy. None-
theless, the effectiveness of multiple celeb-
rity endorsements remains uncertain. This is
due to the surprising findings in Um’s study
(2008) regarding multiple celebrity endorse-
ments that yield an opposing result to some
previous studies. This study reveals that mul-
tiple celebrity endorsements have no greater
effect than single celebrity endorsements on
consumers’ attitudes toward brands and their
advertisements.
Roozen and Claeys (2010) stated that
in analyzing the effect of endorsers on the
brands displayed in advertisements, it is also
important to create a classification of high
involvement and low involvement with the
product. However, previous studies found the
opposite. Pughazhendi et al. (2012), in his
study, found that under the conditions of low
involvement, the use of multiple celebrity
endorsements could create a better consum-
ers’ response compared to a single celebrity
endorsement. While in a high involvement
condition there is no significant difference in
the use of multiple or single celebrity en-
dorsements. Similar results were also ob-
tained by Yang (2006); Heinze (2010), and
Rice et al. (2011).
Meanwhile, Park and Young (1983), in
their research found that in the case of the
cognitive involvement condition, attributes-
based message contents significantly influ-
enced the overall brand’s attitude. In the case
of the affective involvement condition, nei-
ther attributes-based message contents nor
the attitude toward the commercial had any
significant influence on the overall attitude
to the brand, and in the case of the low in-
volvement condition, the attitude toward the
commercial significantly influences the over-
all attitude to the brand. Similarly, studies
conducted by Kirby et al. (1998) involving
women, reported stronger intentions than did
women with low levels of involvement when
seeking additional mammography informa-
tion, regardless of the strength of the argu-
ment or cue favorability, and these women
with low levels of involvement reported
stronger intentions to seek more mammogra-
phy information only when exposed to the
favorable cue condition. Similar study results
were also found by Rice et al. (2011);
McAlister and Bargh (2016).
Product involvement is defined as a
consumer’s level of interest in a particular
product (Solomon 2011). One of the well-
known theories on product involvement and
the formation of consumers’ attitudes is the
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) devel-
oped by Petty et al. (1983). The level of in-
291

volvement may be influenced by a person,
and/or situational or object factors (Celsi and
Olson 1988).
This study is conducted with the aim
of finding a justification for consumers’ atti-
tudes to advertising and brands, based on the
number of endorsers and the level of involve-
ment with the product. The findings of this
study are expected to add references relating
to the concept of endorsers, and product
involvement’s concepts. This study is con-
ducted with an experimental research ap-
proach, in contrast to previous studies which
were conducted by a survey approach.
Based on the Attribution Theory (Kelley
1967), the elaboration likelihood model
(Petty et al. 1983), and some previous stud-
ies (Um 2008 and Pughazhendi et al. 2012),
this study assumes that the number of en-
dorsers and the product’s involvement are
related to the customers’ attitudes towards
brands and their advertisements. This study
also expects that the effects of the interac-
tion between the number of endorsers and
the product’s involvement in advertisements
with multiple celebrity endorsements of low
involvement products will generate the most
positive consumers’ attitudes towards the
advertisements and the brand. Accordingly,
the issues raised in this study are: (1) Are
multiple celebrity endorsements better than
a single celebrity endorsement in shaping con-
sumers’ attitudes towards the advertisements
and brand? (2) Is low involvement better than
high involvement in shaping consumers’ at-
titudes towards the advertisements and
brand? (3) How does the number of endors-
ers affect the customers’ attitudes towards the
advertisements and brand at two different
levels of involvement with the product?
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Handriana and Wisandiko
Literature Review
Single and Multiple Celebrity
Endorsements
Advertisers commonly use celebrity
endorsers to increase the effectiveness of
advertising to persuade consumers (Chen et
al. 2013). A celebrity endorser is defined as
any individual who enjoys public recognition
and who uses this recognition when they ap-
pear in an advertisement in front of consum-
ers, and who often have distinctive attributes
such as attractiveness and trustworthiness
(Silvera and Austad 2004). Research into ce-
lebrity endorsements could be divided into
three distinct streams, namely: source cred-
ibility, which has its roots in psychology; con-
gruence or match-up; and meaning transfer
(Roy et al. 2013). Utilizing one celebrity to
endorse products in an advertisement is com-
monly known as a single celebrity endorse-
ment.
Meanwhile, multiple celebrity endorse–
mens refer to the use of two or more celebri-
ties in an advertisement (Hsu and McDonald
2002). According to Um (2008), there are two
types of multiple celebrity endorsements. The
first type is a multiple celebrity endorsement
in which two or more celebrities collaborate
to support one product in the same adver-
tisement, while the second type is a multiple
celebrity endorsement in which two or more
celebrities support the product but in a dif-
ferent series of advertisements. This study
refers to the first type of multiple celebrity
endorsement, in which the celebrities support
one product in the same advertisement. The
use of celebrities in endorsements is often
designed to improve the consumers’ attitudes
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017
toward the focal brand and to increase their
purchase intentions toward that brand (Amos
et al. 2008 in Erfgen et al. 2016).
Attribution Theory
The attribution theory (Kelley 1967)
states that a person determines the causality
of an event based on his/her behavior or the
behavior of others. Social consensus is a com-
ponent of the attribution theory and refers
to the tendency to generalize different mat-
ters (Tripp 1994). Social consensus will arise
once a person notices other people using the
same product. In the context of advertising,
it implies that consumers tend to have simi-
lar perceptions with others who use similar
products (Schiffman and Kanuk 2014).
Therefore, if other people endorse a prod-
uct, consumers will be more likely to have
the same attitudes and perceptions as those
who support the product. Based on this theory,
researchers then recommend that the use of
multiple celebrity endorsers will enable mar-
keters to effectively apply the concept of the
social consensus theory, which is regarded as
a good marketing strategy (Mowen and
Brown 1981).
Based on the explanation above, this
study formulates the following hypotheses:
H1: Consumers’ attitudes towards advertisements
will be better for advertisements with multiple
celebrity endorsements than for those with a
single celebrity endorsement.
H2: Consumers’ attitudes towards a brand will be
better for advertisements with multiple celebrity
endorsements than for those with a single celeb-
rity endorsement.
Product Involvement
Product involvement is defined as the
consumers’ absolute perception regarding the
importance of product categories, based on
their needs, values, and interests
(Zaichkowsky 1985). Goldsmith and Emmert
(1991) conceptualized product involvement
as being consumers’ interest, enthusiasm, and
preferences for certain product categories.
Meanwhile, Mowen (1995) perceived involve-
ment as important and defines it as the con-
sumers’ interest in the consumption and dis-
position of goods, services, or ideas. As in-
volvement increases, consumers will have a
greater motivation to observe, understand,
and elaborate information regarding their
purchases. According to Schiffman and
Kanuk (2014), purchasing products using a
personal interest or minimal effort is referred
to as a low involvement purchase, while that
with a high level of involvement through
complex inquiriesis called a high-involvement
purchase. A high involvement product is a
product purchased only after long and care-
ful consideration, which may range from in-
quiries about the product to careful evalua-
tion of the different brands, or where the
motivation and ability to process the message
are high. Meanwhile, a low involvement prod-
uct is usually a consumable item that requires
no complicated evaluation process on the part
of the consumer prior to its purchase, or
where the motivation and/or ability to pro-
cess a message is low. Involvement is another
construct receiving considerable attention in
advertising literature, the proposition is that
the more involved an individual consumer is
when faced with an advertisement, the
morehe or she will actively attempt to deter-
mine how the advertrelates to their own needs
andwants (Chaefer and Keillor 1997).
Elaboration Likelihood Model
(ELM)
The Elaboration Likelihood Model
(ELM) is a theory developed by Pettyet et al.
(1983) suggesting the formation and changes
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in consumers’ attitudes. ELM is a persuasi
on theory, as it attempts to predict when and
how individuals will and will not be persuaded
by a message (Littlejohn and Foss 2008). Pe-
ter and Olson (2004) argue that factors de-
termining the type of persuasion that occurs
through the central or peripheral routes are
the level of motivation and the ability to pro-
cess information. The processing of informa-
tion and the attitude changes that occur in a
person are affected by how much and how
deeply the information is processed. The
ELM holds that, under conditions of low in-
volvement, individuals conserve their cogni-
tive resources and allow peripheral cues (such
as endorser characteristics) to influence their
attitudes. In contrast, under conditions of high
involvement, their attitudes are influenced
through a central route. In such cases, indi-
viduals carefully consider the pros and cons
of the message (Chaefer and Keillor 1997).
Social Adaptation Theory
The social adaptation theory (Kahle and
Homer 1985) suggests that the importance
of information will determine its impact on
consumers’ attitudes. Homer and Kahle
(1990) explained that if we take print media
as a stimulus, in advertisements for products
with low involvement, the audience will only
glance briefly at the advertisements for a sec-
ond or two and then move on to the next page.
This happens because consumers have no
desire to exert a great effort insuch a low in-
volvement situation (Chung and Zhai 2003).
The information to be read or considered
during that short period of time is the kind
of information that can have an impact on
consumers. As a result, consumers can only
remember a few things while glancing at the
advertisements. The product’s name and other
visual impressions are possibly all the infor-
mation noticed by the consumers in this con-
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Handriana and Wisandiko
dition, and whether the advertisements
present weak or strong arguments will be of
no concern to them. In contrast, for products
with high involvement, consumers will spend
more time reading the advertisements and
focus more on the arguments rather than just
the visual impression.
Based on the elaboration likelihood
model and the social adaptation theories, the
second set of hypotheses are formulated as
follows:
H3: Consumers’ attitudes toward advertisements
will be better for advertisements featuring ce-
lebrities with a low involvement product than a
high involvement product.
H4: Consumers’ attitudes towards a brand will be
better for advertisements featuring celebrities
with a low involvement product than a high
involvement product.
This study also examines the effects of
the interaction between the number of en-
dorsers and the product’s involvement. Based
on the ELM theory suggested by Petty et al.
(1983), the peripheral cues (in this study the
celebrity endorsers) will be more influential
in consumers’ responses when consumers are
in a low involvement condition; whereas, in
a high involvement condition, the consum-
ers will focus more on the strength of the ar-
guments and the attributes of the product.
Accordingly, it can be hypothesized that the
use of multiple celebrity endorsements will
significantly affect the consumers’ attitudes
towards the brand and its advertising only in
the low involvement product category, while
with the high involvement products there will
not be a significant difference. Saleem (2007)
and Pughazhendi et al. (2012) also support
the ELM theory as they confirm that the use
of endorsers has a greater impact on consum-
ers’ attitudes in the low involvement prod-
uct category than on those in the high involve-
ment category. Thus:
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017
H5: Multiple celebrity endorsements will generate
better consumer attitudes toward an advertise-
ment than a single celebrity endorsement for low
involvement products; whereas, in the case of
high involvement products, the opposite is true.
H6: Multiple celebrity endorsements will generate
better consumer attitudes toward a brand than
a single celebrity endorsement for low involve-
ment products; whereas, in the case of high in-
volvement products, the opposite is true.
Methods
Experimental Design
This study applied a factorial design 2
(single versus multiple) x 2 (high versus low
involvement) and betweensubject methods.
Factorial design is a statistical experimental
design used to measure the impact of two or
more independent variables at various levels
and to allow for the interaction among the
variables (Malhotra 2010). Meanwhile, the
subject is an experimental design in which
Figure 1. Research Model
The Number
of Endorser
Single vs. Multiple
Product
Involvement
Low vs. High
This figure shows the research model, which describes relatioship between variables are the number endorser (single vs multiple), produc
involvement (low vs high), attitude towards advertisement, and attitude towards brand.
each subject only receives one treatment con-
dition (Churchill 2002).
The steps undertaken in this study are
preliminary tests I and II, a check manipula-
tion, a pretest, and the main test. Preliminary
test I was conducted to determine the cat-
egory, either high involvement or low involve-
ment, while preliminary test II was to deter-
mine the endorser. In preliminary test I, con-
ducted on 40 undergraduate management stu-
dents, each participant was given a list of
goods (a laptop, mobile phone, toiletries,
snacks, soft drink, motorbike and watch),
then the participants were asked to name one
item that most needed an information search
process and careful consideration before mak-
ing a purchase decision, and one other item
that required the least information and care-
ful consideration before making a purchase
decision. From the first preliminary test we
found that mobile phones were most often
mentioned as the goods that needed the
lengthiest information search processes and
most careful consideration before making a

ATTITUDES TOWARDS
 ADVERTISEMENT

 ATTITUDES TOWARDS

BRAND
295

purchase decision, so they were selected for
the high involvement category product. Whilst
snack foods were mostly mentioned as the
items that do not require much, if any, infor-
mation seeking or careful consideration be-
fore making a purchase decision, and they
were selected for the low involvement cat-
egory product. In the second preliminary test,
followed by forty participants, the partici-
pants were given a list of the names of popu-
lar Indonesian celebrities, and were then
asked to choose the 3 names that held the
most attraction, credibility and high compat-
ibility for them. The most celebrated celebri-
ties are the celebrities who will be selected
as the endorsers in this research. From the
second preliminary test we obtained six names
for our celebrity endorsers.
Figure 2. Advertisement Designs for Each Scenario
This figure shows the four scenario from this study: 1. Single endorser & low product involvement; (2) multiple endorsers & low product
involvement; (3) single endorser & high product involvement; (4) multiple endorsers and high product involvement.
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Handriana and Wisandiko
The manipulation checks implemented
on the undergraduate students were used to
ensure that the participants understood the
stimulus manipulation designed by the re-
searcher. The objective of the manipulation
check was to as certain whether the partici-
pants understood the type and number of
endorsers and brands, and the products’ in-
volvement levels.
To obtain accurate information from the
participants it was necessary to check the
accuracy of the measuring instruments in this
study. So, before the main test was conducted,
it was necessary to perform a pretest to test
the participants’ understanding of the ques-
tionnaire, the grammatical instructions in the
questionnaire, and how to fill it out. The pre-
test also served to ensure that the manipula-
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017
tion of the variables that have been designed
can be understood by the participants. The
pretest was performed on 30 undergraduate
students.
The types of products used in this study
were snacks for the low involvement category,
and mobile phones for the high involvement
category. These products’ selections were
based on the preliminary test results. For the
products’ brands, this study used fictitious
brands, namely BINGO (for the snacks) and
CELLULAR (for the mobile phones) with the
aim of minimizing any potential bias that may
result from brand images attached to any ex-
isting brands.
As for the celebrities used as endorsers
in this research, six famous celebrities were
selected through the preliminary test to serve
as endorsers inthe designed advertisements.
They were Joe Taslim, Pevita Pearce, Raisa,
Rio Dewanto, Vino G. Bastian, and Chelsea
Islan. Based on a 2x2 factorial design, there
were 4 print advertisements with two types
of celebrity endorsement (single versus mul-
tiple) in two product categories (low versus
high involvement). In other words, for the low
involvement product category, there were two
different advertisements, one with a single
celebrity endorser, and the other with mul-
tiple celebrity endorsers. Similarly, for the high
involvement product category, there were also
two different advertisements of the same
kind.
Then, each participant saw only one
version of the advertisements before filling
in a questionnaire to elicit his/her response.
The advertisements were made witha similar
format and design for each product category,
and only distinguished by the number of en-
dorsers displayed. Product images and the
endorsers’ photos were also a similar size for
each category, in order to avoid differences
in understanding the advertisements among
the participants.
Definition of Operational
Variables
The number of endorsers in the
advertisements.
The number of endorsers refers to the
total number of endorsers used in an adver-
tisement. In this study, as a variable, the num-
ber of endorsers was divided into two, namely
single (one person) and multiple endorsers (3
persons). To check the participants’ under-
standing about the manipulated variable of
the number of endorsers, an open question
was employed as an indicator. The question
was “How many endorsersdo you see on the
displayed advertisement?”
Product involvement
Zaichkowsky (1985) defines product
involvement as the consumers’ perception
toward the importance of the products’ cat-
egories, based on their needs, values and in-
terests. To measure the level of involvement
with the product, this study employed indi-
cators developed by Zaichkowsky (1985),
Schiffman and Kanuk (2014), and Belch and
Belch (2004). According to them, product
involvement is concerned with the search for
information, the complexity of thought and
the consumers’ considerations prior to pur-
chase. The indicators were as follows: (1)
products in the displayed advertisements re-
quire a detailed inquiry prior to making a pur-
chasing decision (e.g. via the internet, other
people, magazines, etc.); (2) products in the
displayed advertisements require acomplex
thought process prior to making a purchase
decision; and (3) products in the displayed
advertisements require careful consideration
prior to making a decision to purchase or not.
297

Attitudes towards the advertisements
Assael (2004) defines the attitude to-
ward an advertisement as the consumers’ ten-
dency to respond well or not toward a par-
ticular advertisement. This attitude toward
an advertisement also refers to the consum-
ers’ likes and dislikes in general toward a par-
ticular advertisement’s stimulus (Mowen and
Minor 2001). In this study, the attitude to-
ward an advertisement is defined as the con-
sumers’ feelings and evaluation/assessment
toward the viewed advertisement. To mea-
sure the attitude toward the advertisement,
there were 4 items used with 7 semantic dif-
ferential scales adopted from Mitchell and
Olson (1981) and which were described as
follows: (1) Dislike/like; (2)bad/good; (3)un-
interesting/interesting; (4)annoying/pleasing.
Attitude towards the brand
Kotler and Keller (2016) define a brand
as a name, form, sign, symbol, or design, or a
combination thereof, which isintended to
identify products or services from one seller
or group of sellers, and to differentiate them
from their competitors. Furthermore, accord-
ing to Assael (2004), the attitude towards a
brand refers to the consumers’ tendency to
evaluate brands so as to form an attitude
about whether the brand is positive or not.
In addition, Mitchell and Olson (1981) de-
fine the attitude towards a brand as an inter-
nal evaluation of the individual against a
brand. In this study, the attitude towards a
brand is defined as the consumers’ feelings
and evaluation/assessment toward the brand.
To measure the attitude towards the brand, 4
items with 7 semantic differential scales,
adopted from Mitchell and Olson (1981) were
used. The 4 items were: (1) Dislike/like;
(2)bad/good; (3)uninteresting/interesting;
(4)annoying/pleasing.
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Handriana and Wisandiko
Research Participants
The number of participants in this study
followed the experimental cell number that
consisted of 4 groups. As each group con-
sisted of 30 people, the total number of par-
ticipants in this study was 120. The partici-
pants were undergraduate students selected
using a non-probability sampling method,
namely the purposive sampling method. The
participants were chosen because they met
the criteria, such as being undergraduate stu-
dents who used smartphones (high involve-
ment) and/or undergraduate students who
consumed snacks (low involvement). Justifi-
cation for the use of students as the partici-
pants is that, according to Podsakoff and
Dalton (1987), they are available, convenient,
cheap, and they are more controllable.
Results and Discussion
Validity and Reliability Tests
The validity test was measured by cal-
culating the item’s total correlation for all of
indicators. Although factor loadings of +0.3
to +0.4 are minimally acceptable, values
greater than +0.5 are generally considered
necessary for practical significance (Hair et
al. 2014). Reliability was assessed by
Cronbach’s alpha; the generally agreed upon
lower limit for Cronbach’s alpha is 0.7 (Hair
et al. 2014). The results of the validity and
reliability tests for both the dependent vari-
ables are presented in Table 1 and Table 2.
Based on the results of the validity and
reliability tests, as displayed in Table 1, it can
be concluded that the indicators used to mea-
sure the variable of the attitude towards an
advertisement were rated valid and reliable.
This was indicated by the item’s total corre-
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017

Table 1. Validity and Reliability Tests on the Variable of Attitudes Towards Advertise-
ment

Indicator Factor Loadings Remark Cronbach’s Alpha Remark

SI1 0.689 Valid
SI2 0.786 Valid
0.873 Reliable
SI3 0.705 Valid
SI4 0.741 Valid
This table shows the testing for validity and reliability tests on the variable of attitudes towards advertisement. In the second column shows
the factor loading more than 0.5. There are incate that variable is valid. The fourth column shows the Cronbach’s Alpha is more than
0.7. There are indicate that the variable is reliable.

Table 2. Validity and Reliability Tests on the Variable of Attitudes towards Brand
Indicator Factor Loadings Remark Cronbach’s Alpha Remark
SM1 0.706 Valid
SM2 0.683 Valid
0.859 Reliable
SM3 0.753 Valid
SM4 0.681 Valid
This table shows the testing for validity and reliability tests on the variable of attitudes towards brand. In the second column shows the
factor loading more than 0.5. There are incate that variable is valid. The fourth column shows the Cronbach’s Alpha is more than 0.7.
There are indicate that the variable is reliable.

lation values forthe four indicators of more Homogeneity Test

than 0.3 and Cronbach’s alpha values of more
than 0.6. Hence, these four indicators were
already suitable for use as a measuring tool
for the variable ofthe attitudes towards the
advertisement.
Based on Table 2, which displays the
results of the validity and reliability test onthe
variable of the attitudes towards the brand,
it is apparent that the indicators used to mea-
sure the variable of the attitudes towards the
brand were rated valid and reliable. This was
indicated by the item’s total correlation val-
ues for the four indicators of more than 0.3
and Cronbach’s alpha values of more than
0.7. Therefore, these four indicators were al-
ready suitable for use as a measuring tool for
the variable of the attitude towards the brand.
Table 3 displays the result of the ho-
mogeneity test with the Levene’s test.
Levene’s test examines the Analysis of Vari-
ance (ANOVA)’s assumption regarding the
variance value of the data as equal (equal
variance). Table 3 shows that each variable
had significant values above 0.05. This indi-
cates that the variables on the attitudes to-
wards the advertisement and brand had the
same (homogeneous) variance and the as-
sumption ofthe homogeneity of the variance
was met.
Table 4 contains a summary of the re-
sults of the Multivariate Analysis of Variance
(MANOVA) test. In this table, the attitude
towards the advertisement showed an F value
of 4.232 and was significant at a 0.05 (p =

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 Handriana and Wisandiko

0.042) for the variable on the number of en-
dorsers. The results showed that the differ-
ence in the number of endorsers, as perceived
by the consumers, generated different atti-
tudes toward the advertisement. The data
also showed that multiple celebrity endorse-
ments resulted in better consumer attitudes
towards the advertisement (mean = 4.716)
as compared to the single celebrity endorse-
ment (mean = 4.345). The consumers’ atti-
tudes toward the advertisement will be im-
proved by advertisements with multiple ce-
lebrity endorsements than for those with just
a single celebrity endorsement. Hence, Hy-
pothesis H1 was accepted. According to Wang
et al. (2015), the fit among multiple celebri-
ties selected to endorse the brand matters in
influencing the consumers’ attitudes.

Table 3.Levene’s Test on Homogeneity of Variance

Variable F df1 df2 Sig

Attitude towards Advertisement 1.893 3 116 0.135
Attitude towards Brand 0.893 3 116 0.447

This table shows the testing for homogeneity of variance. In fifth coloum shows the significance value more than 0.05, its indicate the
variable is homogeneous

Table 4. Summary of MANOVA Test Results

Attitudes towards
Attitudes towards Brand
Variable Advertisement
Mean F Sig Mean F Sig
Number of Endorsers:
Single 4.345 4.179
4.232 .042 6.515 .012
Multiple 4.716 4.587

Product Involvement:
High 4.316 4.075
5.668 .019 14.363 .000
Low 4.745 4.688

Number of Endorsers * Product Involvement:

Single Endorser*
High Involvement 4.183 3.900
.942 .336 2.425 .125
Multiple Endorsers*
High Involvement 4.450 4.250
Single Endorser*
Low Involvement 4.508 4.450
4.139 .046 4.181 .045
Multiple Endorsers*
4.983 4.925
Low Involvement

This table shows the testing for MANOVA Test for hypotheses testing

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Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017
The attitude towards the brand resulted
in an F value of 6.515 and was significant at
a0.05 (p = 0.012) for the number of endors-
ers variable. The results suggested that the
difference in the number of endorsers, as
perceived by the consumers, generated dif-
ferent attitudes towards the brand. The data
also showed that multiple celebrity endorse-
ments led to better consumer attitudes to-
wards the brand (mean=4.587) than the single
celebrity endorsement (mean=4.179). Con-
sumer attitudes towards the brand will be
improved by advertisements with multiple
celebrity endorsements than by those with a
single celebrity endorsement. Consequently,
Hypothesis H2 was also accepted.
These findings reveal that the difference
in the number of endorsers featured in an
advertisement is able to provide different re-
sults for the consumers’ attitudes toward an
advertisement and brand. The MANOVA test
results also show that the use of multiple
celebrity endorsements may result in a better
consumer attitude than a single celebrity en-
dorsement. Accordingly, Hypotheses H1 and
H2 were supported and are in accordance with
the previous theories and research (Mowen
and Brown 1981; Hsu and McDonald 2002;
Rachita et al. 2013, Bhagyashree and Solanki
2015).
The data of the MANOVA’s test resultin
Table 4 on the attitudes toward the adver-
tisement showed an F value of 5.668 and was
significant at 0.05 (p = 0.019) for the prod-
uct involvement variable. The results showed
that the difference in the level of involve-
ment with the product would generate dif-
ferent attitudes towards the advertisement.
The data also showed that low involvement
resulted in better consumer attitudes toward
the advertisement (mean = 4.745) as com-
pared to high involvement (mean = 4.316).
Consumer attitudes toward the advertisement
will be better for advertisements featuring
celebrities with a low involvement product
than with a high involvement product. Hence,
Hypothesis H3 was accepted.
Additionally, the data from the
MANOVA’s test result in Table 4 on the atti-
tudes towards the brand revealed an F value
of14.363 and was significant at a0.05 (p>
0.0001) for the product involvement variable.
The results confirmed that the difference in
the level of involvement with the product
would prompt different attitudes toward the
brand. The data also showed that low in-
volvement resulted in better consumer atti-
tudes to the brand (mean = 4.688) than high
involvement (mean = 4.075). The consum-
ers’ attitudes towards the brand will be bet-
ter for advertisements featuring celebrities
with a low involvement product than with
high involvement products. Consequently,
Hypothesis H4 was also accepted.
Hence, these results indicate that dif-
ferences in the level of the product’s involve-
ment have a significant influence on the con-
sumers’ attitudes towards the advertisement
and brand. These led to a conclusion that the
advertisement in the low involvement prod-
uct category generated better consumer atti-
tudes towards the advertisement than that in
the high involvement product category. Ac-
cordingly, Hypotheses H3 and H4 were ac-
cepted, which was consistent with the elabo-
ration likelihood model suggested by Petty
etal. (1983), which stated that the level of
product involvement is one of the important
variables affecting the formation of consum-
ers’ attitudes and dividing the message pro-
cessing through two different paths, namely
the central and peripheral routes. If consum-
ers have a high degree of involvement in a
product, their attitudes are shaped through
301

the central route, as they will be influenced
by considerations of the message’s content
regarding the brand’s features, attributes and
benefits. Meanwhile, if consumers have a very
low involvement, their attitude formation
occurs through the peripheral route, in which
simple signs, objects, or celebrities play a sig-
nificant role in the evaluation process (Petty
et al. 1983). Thus, the findings in this study
are in line with the findings of previous re-
search (Rice et al. 2012; Petty et al. 1983).
Based on the data from the MANOVA’s
test results in Table 4, on average multiple
celebrity endorsements for low involvement
products generated better consumer attitudes
towards the advertisement than the single
celebrity endorsement did (4.983 > 4.508),
and their differences also met the significance
value of a = 0.05 (p = 0.046). High involve-
ment products, even though multiple celeb-
rity endorsements, also resulted, on average,
in better attitudes towards the advertisement
as compared to a single celebrity endorsement
(4.450 > 4.183), the significance value was
not met because a = 0.05 (p = 0.336). Ac-
cordingly, Hypothesis H5 was accepted.
The data also showed that forlow in-
volvement products, multiple celebrity en-
dorsements generated better consumer atti-
tudes toward the brand than a single celeb-
rity endorsement did (4.925 > 4.450), on
average, and the differences between them
also met the significance value of a = 0.05
(p = 0.045). High involvement products,
even though multiple celebrity endorsements,
resulted, on average, in better consumer atti-
tudes toward the brand than a single celeb-
rity endorsement did (4.250 > 3.900), the sig-
nificance value was not met since a = 0.05
(0.125). Hence, Hypothesis H6 was accepted.
302
Handriana and Wisandiko
The analysis and discussion reveals that
with low involvement products, the consum-
ers’ attitudes toward the advertisement and
brand were better when using multiple celeb-
rity endorsements than a single celebrity en-
dorsement. For a low involvement product,
multiple celebrity endorsements will gener-
ate a better consumers’ attitude towards the
advertthan a single celebrity endorsement
can. For a low involvement product, multiple
celebrity endorsements will generate better
consumer attitudes towards the brand than a
single celebrity endorsement will. But with
high involvement products, both multiple and
single celebrity endorsements generate the
same consumers attitude towardthe adverts.
Also for high involvement products, multiple
celebrity endorsements do not generate any
different consumer attitudes toward the brand
than single celebrity endorsements do. There-
fore, Hypotheses H5 and H6 were accepted.
These results reinforce the theory developed
by Petty etal. (1983) and are in parallel with
previous studies conducted by Pughazhendi
et al. (2012) in India, which also led to simi-
lar results, and Rice et al. (2012).
Conclusion
The results showed that there were dif-
ferences in the consumers’ attitudes towards
advertisements and brands, based on the num-
ber of endorsers featured in an advertisement.
Advertisements featuring multiple celebrity
endorsers were able to better shape the con-
sumers’ attitudes than those displaying only
a single celebrity endorser. These also indi-
cated that there were differences in the con-
sumers’ attitudes toward advertisements and
brands based on the level of involvement
with the product, as perceived by the con-
Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business – September-December, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2017

sumers. Advertisements in the low product
involvement category were capable of pro-
ducing better consumer attitudes toward the
advertisement than those in the high product
involvement category.
From the analysis of the interaction’s
effect, the use of multiple celebrity endorse-
ments was more effective in generating im-
proved consumer attitudes toward advertise-
ments and brands only for the low involve-
ment products; whereas for the high involve-
ment products, the differences did not show
significant results.
The managerial implication from this
study is that, for businessmen with low in-
volvement products, the use of multiple en-
dorsers will be more effective than the single
endorser, because using multiple endorsers
has a better impact on the consumers’ atti-
tudes to advertising and the brand. Mean-
while, for the businessman with high involve-
ment products, the use of either a single en-
dorser or multiple endorsers for their product’s
advertisements does not make a significant
difference on the effect of consumers’ atti-
tudes to the advertisement and brand.
The first drawback of this research lies
in the stimulus design of the advertisements,
which was regarded as being rather unrealis-
tic by most of the participants. This was due
to their very simple design, displaying only
the logo and the product’s image, as well as
the endorsers. In addition, the use of ficti-
tious brands in the advertisements made the
participants feel that the advertisements were
fabricated and unreal, which eventually af-
fected their responses. For further research,
the use ofa more realistic and not-too-sim-
plistic design for the advertisements is rec-
ommended, in order to convince the partici-
pants that the advertisements are real, and
thus, eventually evoking better responses.
Second, this study only measured the ef-
fectiveness of an advertisement to determine
the consumers’ attitude to it, but not their
intentions or future actions. The effects of
such variables as the number of endorsers and
the product’s involvement in the advertise-
ments were only measured by the consum-
ers’ attitudes toward the advertisement and
brand. For further research, it would be bet-
ter to add some other dependent variables,
such as purchase intentions.
Another limitation is that the study only
manipulated the variables of the number of
endorsers and involvement with the product
in measuring the consumers’ attitudes. As a
matter of fact, there are many other factors
that influence the effectiveness of the use of
multiple celebrity endorsements, such as the
compatibility of the endorser and product,
the source credibility of the endorser, as well
as the sex and age of the participants. There-
fore, future studies are expected to combine
these variables in order to measure the effec-
tiveness of the multiple celebrity endorse-
ment.

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